A Fire Still Burns
by Kaji Fireson
Summary: After smashing Mephisto's Soulstone, I return to the Pandemonium Fortress only to have it beseiged by Diablo! Naturally, I go down to fight him. Wanna know more? Read the first chapter of A Fire Still Burns. Read the Author's Notes carefully, as well.
1. The Fight with Diablo

PAY ATTENTION TO THE DISCLAIMER THAT APPEARS BELOW. IT WILL NOT BE REPEATED! IF YOU MISS IT BY SKIPPING AHEAD TO THE LATEST CHAPTER, THAT'S NOT MY FAULT!

A/N: Two or three years ago, my brother (the Heel Killer) began writing what I believe will be his life's work. Okay, maybe not, but he's been working on it for nearly three years, so there must be something to be said about that. Anyway, due to circumstances beyond our control (the hard drive in our three year old computer finally died) and reasons originating in our natures (he and I are both self-proclaimed perfectionists), the story was removed from on the basis that it had too many plotholes. This is, mostly, true: his story was positively up to its eyeballs in plotholes and incontinuities.

In the beginning, I had a story to go along with his, but in a different character's point of view. My story, believe it or not, actually began and existed prior to my brother's work. The main difference was in the author: I perceived that my/our work was ridden with too many faults and imperfections, and so I desisted, letting my side of his story disappear.

Eventually, I became involved in his story once again, this time as co-writer of his version. That, in essence, meant that I wrote the parts depicting my character and supplied his lines: he was still in control. Gradually, I was given a little more leverage until we were of about equal rank, and that's around the time he decided to revise the story. However, by this time, the blasted thing was so huge, simple revision of the thing would be, frankly, quite impractical. (Data loss around that time didn't help matters any.) Therefore, we decided to trash the thing and rebuild our efforts, anew. I also decided that trying to construct a parallel novel beside his story would be worth another shot, and that brings us to where we are.

Each of our stories will seem to stand well enough on its own in the beginning, but I don't doubt that, as we go along, you will need to have read each to understand some of the references or jokes contained within. Therefore, I must urge you to read the Heel Killer's work, _The Story of My Life, I Think _as well as my own. If you won't do this, at least read his prologue. With that said, the disclaimer appears below. I WILL NOT REPOST THIS DISCLAIMER. UNDERSTOOD? Good.

Disclaimer: The only character that I own is Kaji Fireson. All others are the property of some other person or entity, such as Square Enix, World Wrestling Entertainment, Kazuki Takahashi, Akiro Toriyama, etc., etc. The Heel Killer is the property of himself (I hope), and, if any other original character pops up, they are either the property of myself, the Heel Killer, or themself (and I will notify you as to who they belong). How about we get on with the show?

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Chapter One: The Battle with Diablo 

"There," I said with great satisfaction as I smashed the stone with a particularly large hammer. "Now there's only one thing left to do." With that, I pulled out a large, blue book, read a few words from it, and stepped through the blue portal that appeared. When I arrived at the new location, I looked around at the bland, metallic grey walls and fortifications that had become all too familiar over the past few days.

A few moments later, a familiar face lifted my spirits somewhat as he rushed up to me while leaning on his walking stick. "Excellent work, hero!" he exclaimed. "Surely, even in his sanctuary, Diablo felt the fury released when you smashed his brother's soulstone!"

"I don't doubt it, Cain," I replied. "And I'll make sure that Diablo meets the same fate."

"If you manage to defeat the Lord of Terror, it will be quite a feat, indeed! Mephisto may have been a challenge, but Diablo will be ten times more difficult to defeat in battle. You need to be both physically and mentally prepared for this battle like never before! Therefore-"

Suddenly, an explosion rocked the Pandemonium Fortress.

"I don't believe our friend here will get the chance to prepare, Cain," Tyrael, the Archangel who is known for looking out for the mortal men, announced. "Diablo has assaulted the Fortress!"

"Looks like it's go time to me," I declared. I stopped by the resident healer to restore the energy I had lost in the previous battle, then moved to the head of the stairway leading from the Pandemonium Fortress, Heaven's Final Fortification, to the Outer Steppes of Hell, the site that would be the location of my battle with Diablo.

Before going any further, I suppose I should probably explain the situation. My name is Kaji Fireson. I am, primarily, a sorcerer, and it is my main goal to purge the world of the three Prime Evils. I have already disposed of Mephisto, the first. The second, Diablo, stared up at me from the foot of the stairs. The third, Baal, currently eluded me completely. Assisting me in this quest is the last of the Horadrim, the venerable Deckard Cain, whose knowledge of magical items is unsurpassed on this plane. There's also the archangel, Tyrael.

"Hello, down there!" I called down to the King of Demons as if he were a fellow man I was conversing with. "Give me a little room, will you, so that I can come down there and fight you!"

"That's what I'm here for, isn't it?" he replied cockily before backing off several hundred yards, giving me room to descend the steps.

"You must be pretty confident, Diablo, if you're going to fight fair," I retorted, allowing my voice to be tinted a bit by cockiness, as well. He said nothing, however, and I charged down the steps into battle. I stopped about two stairs from the bottom and realized that if I dove headlong into battle, Diablo was going to pounce on me...and that is NOT a good thing. I needed to be more cautious. That, or...

I stepped out into the Outer Steppes and, as I had suspected, Diablo charged me. Luckily, I knew how to teleport out of the way. "You'll have to work harder than that to hit me!" I taunted. Diablo answered by swinging his tail back at me, forcing me to jump out of the way. Even so, one of the spikes on his tail nicked me on the way by. _This will not be easy_, I thought.

"Not so cocky anymore, are we?" Diablo taunted in return, turning around. I answered him by blasting him in the face with a Fire Ball. A couple of char marks appeared, but he was, overall, unharmed. "But you still have some fight in you? That's good. I wouldn't want to think I was the only one taking any pleasure from this fight!"

I smirked. "You needn't worry about that, Diablo," I replied. "The pleasure is all mine!" I charged him, teleported just as he swung at me in retaliation, and launched a move that I had dubbed "Infer-nova". I watched as the ring of fire approached Diablo, then smirked when it connected. However, the smirk soon turned into a frown, as Diablo, once again, was largely unharmed. _This will not be easy OR quick..._ Then, Diablo did something I couldn't believe: he used an Infer-nova of his own! I simply waited for the right moment, then teleported inside the ring of fire, avoiding harm. I also teleported out of Diablo's reach when he tried to punch me again.

My strategy for the battle was simple: get in a hit with a Fire Ball or Meteor when I could, teleport out of the way of Diablo's attacks, hit him with another Fire Ball, dodge, wash, rinse, repeat, repeat, repeat. This worked well for awhile. However, the strategy, used over a long period of time, took its toll, and I was hesitant to use my sole remaining Rejuvenation Potion. Therefore, when I ran low of mana, I started attacking Diablo with my staff to give myself time to recover. Near the end of our battle, I was even using the telekinesis skill I had learned to make my staff fly around and whap Diablo in the back of the head before zipping out of reach. This was refreshing for me, but Diablo didn't like it that much...of course, he was thrilled when he finally figured out my attack pattern, turned around at just the right moment, and blasted my staff with a demonic punch, shattering it into about a thousand chips. He followed up quickly with a Bone Prison, trapping me within. I tried to teleport out, but found that I had run out of energy playing around with my staff. When Diablo saw me struggling to escape, he laughed.

"Oh, how the mighty have fallen!" he cooed. "No mana left to teleport away? Too bad for you. I was just beginning to think-"

At this point in his tirade, he was so confident that I was doomed that he turned around, allowing me to down my last potion. I got the container back into my belt before he turned around again.

"-would have been only the second person to ever accomplish that feat, but now, all your hard work will come to naught! Any last words?"

_This is going to be cutting it close...this skill takes a lot of mana out of me..._ I thought as he spoke, but I now replied, "Yes...just one."

"What is that?" Diablo asked out of curiosity, raising his hands in preparation for the move that would seal my fate.

"Teleportation."

I teleported out of my prison and behind Diablo. Not fooled, he turned around quickly, threw his hands forward, and yelled, "LIGHTNING INFERNO!"

I matched him with "FLAMING INFERNO!"

The two streams of hot death flew at each other, met about half-way, and began fighting one another for dominance.

_I can't afford to have him stall me like this! I don't know how long I can keep this up..._

"It appears we are evenly matched, mortal," Diablo stated with just the slightest hint of strain in his voice.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," I replied in much the same tone (though I fought to keep my struggling out of my voice).

"Even the one who defeated me last time could not boast the feat of matching my Lightning Inferno," Diablo began again, effort becoming slightly more evident in his voice.

"Yeah, well, I worked hard on this spell," I answered, still keeping as much strain out of my voice as I could. The two spells were still pretty much even.

"Do you think you could possibly outlast me?" he asked viciously, though it was obvious the battle had taken its toll.

"I'll certainly try," I replied in much the same tone. The effort was now obvious in my voice as well.

"Well, then I'd better end this NOW!" he cried as he poured all his remaining energy into his Lightning Inferno, and it began winning against my Inferno.

_Oh, no you don't!_ I thought, and I threw all of my remaining power behind my Inferno. My spell began inching back toward the middle and beyond.

"No!" Diablo cried as my Inferno inched ever closer to him. "This isn't possible! I refuse to believe it!"

"Believe it!" I replied. I remained constant in my efforts, even as I began drifting towards unconsciousness. Soon, my Flaming Inferno had completely defeated Diablo's Lightning Inferno and began destroying Diablo's life. His cries of agony were music to my ears. Just as they died down, I lost consciousness. However, I managed to construct one final coherent thought before doing so: _It's finally over.

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Well, there it is: the first chapter of my story. If it seemed too short, don't fret: future chapters will almost certainly be longer. Comments and feedback are most welcome. Constructive criticism is definitely welcome, but flames will simply fuel the fire, so don't bother.  



	2. How'd I Get Here?

A/N: Chapter Two is finally here! To all three of you who care, we're starting to get to the good part. I say starting because my typical style is to create epic stories that span twenty or thirty chapters. The problem, of course, is that I also have the tendency to throw out these novels after about seven chapters. Eh...here's to hoping! Also, if you want a disclaimer, go to the first chapter for it. From here on out, that is what you will get for a disclaimer, you lazy bastards. Anyway, on with the show.

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Chapter Two: How'd I Get Here? 

_Ah...the infinite bliss of a comfortable bed...I have not felt the likes of it since I left Lut Gholein..._ Desperately, I clung to my semi-conscious state in an attempt to return to sleep. However, several voices were hindering my efforts.

"Ec ra ymeja?"

"Ra'c hud tayt, Rikku."

"Oayr...ra zicd fyhdc du cmaab."

"What the hell are you three talking about?" The first three voices had been female voices indicating varying levels of compassion and spunk. Each had also been speaking in a strange, foreign (to me) language. The fourth voice was decidedly male, and it was clear that he had little patience in him.

"I think you know full well what we're talking about, Jonathan," the first voice replied toyngly. To me, it seemed, from the sound of her voice, that the first girl was somewhat ditzy, very energetic, and cared for most people.

"Is that so, Rikku?" "Jonathan" responded. There was little compassion in him, but enough intelligence to know when he had to aid someone for the good of the cause...whatever that cause may be.

"Oac, ed ec," "Rikku" retorted.

"You know, for being the one that said we should stay pretty quiet while we're in here, Rikku, you sure are doing a bad job of it!" the third voice pointed out. This girl was obviously known to be a quiet girl, but she had the kindness of ten angels packed tight into her finite being. "Keep it down."

"Better do as she says, Rikku," the second voice taunted. This voice was cold as ice: I don't think I've ever encountered anyone who acts quite as distant and indifferent as she does. However, though they have differing demeanors, she and Jonathan clearly have much in common as far as character goes. "After all, she is the high summoner."

"Even so, she ain't the boss of me!" Rikku responded.

I finally decided that getting back to sleep was highly unlikely under these conditions, so I began to stir.

"See what you've done, Rikku!" Jonathan declared. "You woke him up!"

"That's not entirely true," I managed to state. I didn't expect it to be that hard to speak, but now that I was actively regaining consciousness, I found that I had a significant headache and was sore in places I didn't even know I had places. "I...I heard everything you four have said so far...starting with...well, those three lines of nonsense...you know, the second one was someone addressing Rikku..."

"Nonsense? They were speaking Al Bhed," Jonathan replied. "Even though it's just a cipher for English, it's still a bitch to learn..."

"I'll take your word for it..." I answered weakly. I opened my eyes slowly and found myself looking up at a high, red, metallic looking ceiling. I struggled to sit up, but waved off a blonde whose hair was absolutely crazy when she tried to keep me down. "Get off me," I demanded a bit harshly. "I'm sore...not broken." The blonde looked hurt, so I apologized. "Sorry...I just hate having people try to control me when I'm like this...they think they know what's best for me better than I do. Well, believe me...I've been like this more than once, so I know what to do about it...a bit of rest and relaxation and I'll be just fine."

"Are you sure?" said the brunette. She was the one who possessed the superhuman kindness.

I grinned weakly, then replied, "Yes, I'm sure..." I looked around at the room I was in and saw a couple of beds other than the one I was in (one served as the seat of the blonde who had tried to hold me down). I saw a railing that prevented falls from this level to a lower level. I saw what appeared to be a wall covered with drinks, so I assumed there was a bar or tavern on the lower level. I saw strange emblems on the metallic walls. I was not in Sanctuary anymore. "Um...where am I?" I asked.

"I was wondering how long it would take for you to ask that question," Jonathan replied. "You are definitely NOT in Sanctuary anymore," he continued, echoing my thoughts. "The world you are currently in is called Spira. It is, at once, both similar to the world you left, and fundamentally different." I furrowed my brow in confusion at this statement, but remained silent. "Once we get out into this world when we go on a mission or two, you'll see what I mean." With that, his little improvised speech concluded.

"Okay...so...how did I get here?"

"That's a little harder to answer..." the girl in black replied. "All we know is that you washed up on the shore of Besaid, Wakka called us, and we picked you up. As Brother and Rikku carried you up to the ship, Wakka and Yuna kept exchanging significant glances...yeah, those are the looks." She was referring to the glances Rikku and the blonde (I assumed that was Yuna) were now exchanging. "What is so significant about a guy washing up on the Besaidian beach?"

"Paine, do you remember Shuyin?" Jonathan asked. Paine opened her mouth to say something, but Jonathan continued before she could get too far into her rant. "Well, someone who looks a lot like Shuyin washed up on the beach at Besaid three years ago...just in time to join Yuna in her pilgrimage, in fact. He played a key role in destroying Sin for good. Yeah...that's why." Jonathan fell silent, and Paine remained silent.

After a few awkward moments of this silence, I struck up a conversation again. "Well, now...since I'm not going anywhere for a little while, why don't the five of us get to know each other?" I turned from one girl to the next (I turned to Jonathan last).

"Erm...I suppose that would be a good idea...seeing as we're going to be working together soon." Such were the words of the brunette.

"Really?" I said in a way that implied the old 'I never agreed to that!' argument, but, since they did pick me up, and one could only assume they intended to nurse me back to health, seeing as I'm not dead yet, I couldn't muster much of an argument. "Okay...who wants to go first?"

"I will," Jonathan replied. "I am, besides you, the newest passenger on this airship. I'm not really that remarkable except for my interest in video games and Duel Monsters."

"Duel Monsters?" I asked stupidly, having never heard the term before in my life. The three girls had expressions similar to the one I must have been wearing.

"Yeah, Duel Monsters...I'll have to show you later. Anyway, what you see is pretty much what I've got," he continued, gesturing to his clothes and himself. "I brought some of my video games on board, but nothing else: it all got left behind...along with my old life."

"I'm Rikku!" the peppy blonde declared, picking up the slack. "I'm an Al Bhed and-along with my brother," she added in a very small voice before continuing outloud, "I am the main reason we have an airship to ride on!"

"Are you saying you stole the money to buy the airship?" Paine asked tauntingly.

"No!" Rikku answered. "It was one of the ones Pop was using in...his business venture. Brother and I just...commandeered it."

"So you stole this airship itself? That's a lot better," Paine taunted again, but by the look on her face, she didn't really mean it.

_Seems she's not as cold as she seemed_, I thought.

"Well..." Rikku geared up to tell some backstory about the airship, but Jonathan would have none of it.

"Not now, Rikku," he commanded. "He doesn't even know all of our names yet, and you already want to fill him in on everything that's happened in Spira for the past THREE YEARS." Rikku slumped in her seat, and the brunette took over the introductions.

"My name is Yuna," she began. "This, as you know, is Rikku, and this is Paine," she continued, gesturing to the "platinum brunette".

"Usually, they do their pose at this point, but, since you're too sore to appreciate it, I think they're going to spare you the embarrassment."

"Shut up, you," Rikku commanded, but Jonathan made it clear that he did it of his own accord.

"Regardless, I appreciate your...restraint. So...I suppose it's my turn, now..." I took a breath before beginning. "My name is Kaji Fireson. I am a sorcerer who journeys (or...journeyed...) around a land called Sanctuary in my quest to hunt down and destroy the three Prime Evils."

"Prime Evils?" the three girls asked unanimously, but Jonathan would answer for me.

"The three Prime Evils: Diablo, Mephisto, and Baal. They are the main cause of grief in his world, just as Sin was in your world before it was destroyed. They caused immeasurable Destruction across the land, instilled Terror into millions of hearts, and planted and encouraged much Hatred among those who survived."

"Ah..." the three girls unanimously replied.

"So," Yuna began slowly. "Um...did you manage to kill any of them before you...well...ended up here?"

"Yes...two of them, and I can prove it," I declared. "Jonathan, was it? Could you hand me my robes?" The armor that I wear underneath my robes was still on me, but the robes themselves were hanging on a peg above the adjacent bed that Jonathan was sitting on. Unquestioningly, he handed me my robes. Sorely and painfully, I reached into a pocket on the inside of my robes and pulled out a long, ovate rock. It was incredibly shiny and colored a bright blue.

"Ooh...what is that?" Rikku asked, entranced by the stone's beauty. I slapped her hand away urgently (causing me a bit of pain, but it was worth it).

"DON'T TOUCH THAT!" I cried. "This is Diablo's Soulstone! You mustn't touch it or you will be corrupted by Diablo's evil taint!"

"Then why are YOU touching it?" Yuna asked as though I were being hypocritic...and, in a way, I was.

"I am touching it because I know that I cannot be placed under a Prime Evil's corrupt influence. I have extensive experience handling Mephisto's Soulstone, that's how I know before you ask," I continued, looking at Jonathan. He had opened his mouth to say something, but he quickly shut it again. I placed the Soulstone back into the pocket of my robes, then Jonathan hung them back up. "Well, now...other than the fact that I specialize in fire magic, you know all there is to know about me now."

"Great. Now that the introductions are over, we can let you rest again." Yuna stood up, and the others followed her example. "We'll check on you every so often, but, if we do it right, you will never notice while you're asleep. Once you've recovered, we'll go on a mission or two to help you regain your strength. Sound good?" I nodded slightly, then closed my eyes. I was asleep almost instantly.

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Well, there it is: chapter two. Chapter three is already underway, but, like chapter two, it may be a while before it is online. Until then, tell me what you think of the first two chapters. Praise me, instruct me, whatever. I encourage criticism of my work, but only if it is constructive and productive. Flames...why do you people even bother? It only pisses people off and nothing good comes of it. Anyway, that's all for now: I'm done. See you in chapter three!  



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